that the hose appears to be fine from the outside and the hose is not leaking.

When the inside

of the hose is inspected, it is seen that the chemicals and/or high-temperature water have
caused some corrosion and/or deterioration. This usually starts to affect the hose at the folds,
where there is more stress on the TPU material.

If the exposure to chemicals is long enough, then there is a good chance that the chemicals
will eat through the hose and spill out onto the ground. When there are high enough
concentrations of some chemicals, they can eat a hole through the hose in a matter of just a
few hours.

One example is a
project in Texas that
needed to transfer
produced water seven
miles. The company
used high-quality
thermoplastic
polyurethane lay flat
hose, but the
produced water
quickly ate through
the hose and created
a costly and Photo 2 - TPU hose blistering and leaking from chemical corrosion
challenging cleanup. It
also left the company with seven miles of unusable hose. The chemicals started eating through
the hose along its folds and made a straight line of blisters and leaks as shown in Photo 2.

A few years ago, several operators and water-transfer companies in Texas independently
approached Hammerhead Industrial Hose to see if there were any options for lay flat hose that
were able to withstand the wide variety of chemicals and temperatures in produced water.
These companies wanted to use lay flat hose with confidence that they would not end up with
a costly produced-water spill. Hammerhead has always been at the leading edge of developing
solutions to make water transfers using lay flat hose more safe, efficient and environmentally
friendly. So, this was an interesting challenge. A joint effort was started with hose
manufacturers and material suppliers to come up with a lay flat hose that holds up well to the
range of chemicals and temperatures found in produced water. The results from this effort
have been positive and proven that produced water can be transferred using the right lay flat
hose with high degree of dependability and safety, making it a viable, cost-effective solution.

It wasn’t long after resolving which lay flat hose to use that other challenges were discovered.
After transferring produced water for a while, the lay flat hose was doing well, but the various
fittings started to exhibit chemical corroion. Photo 3 shows a standard aluminum coupler after
30 days of transferring produced water.